Our Savior, Kathryn Bigelow

At the 2010 Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow took home two awards, one for her achievement in Directing and the other for Best Film. Bigelow made history that night, making her the first and only woman to ever take home the award for Best Director. In my last blog post, I discussed my research thus far on my semester topic on the inequalities and underrepresentation of females working behind the scenes, such as directors, writers, and producers, in the entertainment industry. If a female makes a successful movie, such as Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, the film is considered what Maureen Dowd from the New York Times defined as an “anomaly” (Dowd). According to an article byNew York Women in Film and Television’s, “87% of women respondents believe that women face unique career limitations in media, obstacles that are not encountered by men” (NYWIFT). These limitations include pay inequality and a lack of recognition for their work. This week I was assigned a manipulation project, changing the image to represent my topic of the inequalities women face in the entertainment industry. I decided I would manipulate an image that represents the recognition that all women deserve, as well as portray women as the key to success. Below is the manipulated photo of the original above.

The image I chose to manipulate was a behind the scenes shot from the film, The Hurt Locker, in which director, Kathryn Bigelow, is directing a male crew member, on how to shoot the scene.There were three major manipulations I made to the original photo. With Bigelow’s arms already out, she represented a christ-like figure, so I wanted to exemplify this even more. I added a lens fare to cast a bright light on Bigelow and included a vignette around her, to represent her purity, brilliance, and power. I then masked the man in the background, and duplicated him to resemble Jesus’disciples. The picture now portrays Bigelow leading the men to success and greatness. The last change I made was adding the Oscars in Bigelow’s hands. An Oscar represents success, so I wanted to portray Bigelow as a successful and powerful woman, directing the men with her Oscars in hand, teaching them her path to success. Christ is portrayed in so many artworks around the world, and I felt by portraying Bigelow in this holy way, as well as depicting the men as her followers, I would be able to connect and help my viewers understand my work. My work successfully portrays Bigelow, the only woman to be recognized for her work, leading the men to success. If women were offered more opportunities in the entertainment industry, there would be more awarded women creating a path to success for men.